By Jesse Tuominen, PhD, CTO, Voyantic Ltd. and co-leader of the RAIN Alliance Manufacturing Quality Workgroup

In June  2024, a new Manufacturing Quality Workgroup within the RAIN Alliance met for the very first time. The group had no leaders, no schedule, nor a clear scope of the work ahead. However, it was clear that the RAIN technology ecosystem had matured up to a point where defining tag quality collectively was essential. This would bring the industry to a point where quality could be clearly communicated and tested in a common fashion.

Since December 2024, the workgroup has been developing this framework document to explain best practices, quality, and associated tests. The goal is to eventually turn the framework document into a global standard.

So, what happened in the five months between June and December in the workgroup? In addition to establishing leadership and ways of working, we dedicated many meetings to developing a common understanding of how the RAIN tag market currently operates in terms of  quality and quality expectations. We examined how is quality actually perceived, what is working in the quality certification, and what is not working. It was also established that “tag quality” as a topic is enormous and could cover everything from IC features, conformance, performance, mechanical durability, chemical resistance, encoding practices, converting, printing, security, etc. While this workgroup could target all or any of these topics, we decided to start by focusing on inlay quality after chip attachment, including RF performance and general reliability.

While the group had established a clear understanding of the work ahead, we wanted to give a voice to all companies producing, using, and working with RAIN technology. Our goal was to identify what the industry is craving and what it is content with. For this purpose, we launched a survey in October and received feedback from 45 RAIN Alliance members. After analyzing the responses, we believe we received a strong mandate to continue our established path, adjusted by some important key takeaways.

Curious to learn more about the survey? We’ve published a summary report: Unlocking Quality in RAIN Manufacturing: Insights and Opportunities from the RAIN Alliance Survey.

You can also listen to this RAIN Alliance webinar recording in which I discuss the workgroup and survey findings with RAIN Alliance President Aileen Ryan.